The place fixed for the meeting
was in certain large buildings called the barns of Ayr. The true purpose
of the governor was a murderous one. He proposed to rid himself of many
of those who were giving him trouble by the effective method of the
rope. Halters with running nooses had been prepared, and hung upon the
beams which supported the roof. The Scotch visitors were admitted two at
a time, and as they entered the nooses were thrown over their heads, and
they drawn up and hanged. Among those thus slain was Sir Reginald
Crawford, sheriff of the county of Ayr, and uncle to William Wallace.
This story it is not easy to believe, in the exact shape in which it is
given, since it is unlikely that the Scottish nobles were such fools as
it presupposes; but that it is founded on some tragical fact is highly
probable. The same is the case with the story of Wallace's retribution
for this crime. When the news of it came to his ears he is said to have
been greatly incensed, and to have determined on an adequate revenge. He
collected his men in a wood near. Ayr, and sent out spies to learn the
state of affairs. The English had followed their crime with a period of
carousing, and, having eaten and drunk all they wished, had lain down to
sleep in the barns in which the Scotch gentry had been murdered.
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